Circumcision clamp

ABSTRACT

A bloodless circumcision clamp having an arcuate shape comprising two members that are slidably engaged. A rod goes through a slot in the upper member and an opening in a clamping element which is located in a lower member. A bell-shaped member on the rod is adapted to receive the glans of a penis and the foreskin goes over the bell. When the clamping element is drawn upward the bell-shaped member and the opening in the clamping ring are brought into cooperative arrangement, thereby constricting the blood vessels in the foreskin and allowing it to be cut away.

United States, Patent [1 1 Baumgarten Apr. 9, 1974 CIRCUMCISION CLAMP 2,544,459 3 1951 Kanner 128/346 Inventor: Carl B. aumgarten, Houston Tex 2,548,670 4/1951 Hyatt 128/346 [73] Assignee: Gonco Surgical Manufacturing Primary ExaminerDalton L. Truluck Corp., Buffalo, NY. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Kenneth H. Johnson [22] Flled: July 11, 1972 [57] ABSTRACT 1 1 pp N04 270,662 A bloodless circumcision clamp having an arcuate shape comprising two members that are slidably en- 521 11.5. c1. 128/346 gaged- A rod goes through in h upper member 51 1 Int. Cl A6lb 17/08 and an Opening in a damping element which is located 581 Field 61 Search 128/305 346 in a lower member- A bell-Shaped member the is adapted to receive the glans of a penis and the fore- [56] References Cited skin goes over the bell. When the clamping element is drawn upward the bell-shaped member and the open- UN-ITED STATES PATENTS ing in the clamping ring are brought into cooperative arrangement, thereby constricting the blood vessels in 2115 e a 2,471,864 5 1949 D'ePalo v 1. 128/346 the foreskm and allowmg to be cut away Turner 128/346 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures The present invention relates to an improved circumcision clamp. In my prior application Ser. No. 179,292

filed Sept. 10, 1971, a bloodless circumcision clamp was described having a C-shaped frame, a rod with a bell-shaped head, and a means to move the rod in order to'bring the bellshaped head into contact with a clamping element.

It has now been found that certain improvements in my prior circumcision clam'p make it even more useful than before, while embodying the basic invention as previously described. Briefly, it has been found that it is desirable to have more space in which to manipulate the foreskin (prepuce) and the glans of the penis on the bell-shaped head and to have a better means for securing a handgrip on the clamp.

Thus it is an object of this invention to provide a circumcision clamp of simple design. It is a further object of this invention to provide a circumcision clamp that can be maintained as a single unit, yet is adapted to allow clear access by the operator tothe area where the glans and foreskin are fitted into the clamp, and which requires less handling and. manipulation than clamps of the prior art. It is yet a further object to provide a circumcision clamp which is readily hand held during the fitting of glans and foreskin into the clamp and during the operation. It is further an object of this invention to provide a circumcision clamp which can be easily manipulated by one person. It is yet another object of this invention to provide a circumcision clamp that can be easily cast or extruded in resins or polymeric-materials. It is another object of the present invention to provide a circumcision clamp that can be distributed in a ready to use, preassembled conditon. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a circumcision clamp that can be adapted for use with different size penes. These and other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following discussion and the drawings. g I

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a preferred embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a top view and partial cross section along 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is across sectional elevation taken along 33 of FIG. 1. t

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation, taken along 44 of FIG. 1.

. FIG. 5 is a bottom view taken along 5--5 of FIG. 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION the glands and prepuce of the penis on a bell-shaped I member which is located below a clamping ring in the lower member. This allows adequate room to manipulate this arrangement, yet keeps the clamp as a unitary device. When the penis is situated the upper member slides back into place and a rod to which the bellshaped member is attached is fitted into a slot on the upper member. A means is actuated to draw the rod and the bell-shaped member upward. The foreskin is compressed by contact with the clamping ring, thereby constricting the blood vessels and achieving hemostasis. The desired amount of foreskin is cut away above the constriction. Usually the clamp is allowed to remain in position for 5 minutes or so prior to the removal of the foreskin. The present invention also describes an elongated bottom member which provides an adequate gripping area.

Different sizes of bell-shaped members can be used with the appropriate clamping ring to accommodate different size penes.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing, in FIG. 1 which is a side elevation, the frame of the circumcision clamp is seen to comprise an upper member 5 having a arcuate shape and a lower member 7, said members forming a C-shaped unit in the operational position (FIG. 1 The upper member 5 is slidably mounted on lower member 7 by means of a groove 13 cooperatively engaged with guide 8 having guide flanges 14 on either side thereof. The upper member 5 has a slot 18 on the forward most end. The slot 18 holds rod 2 when the upper member 5 is in the operational position and allows the upper member 5 to be pulled back completely from the operational area during the preparative stages of the operation.

On the upper portion of rod 2 there are threads 1 onto which a nut 3 has been placed. Nut 3 has an annular shoulder 4 which fits into annular recess 6 on the top of upper member 5. Rotation of the nut 3 raises or lowers the rod 2. On the lower end of rod 2 is a bellshaped member 9 which has a recess 15 therein which is adapted to receive the glands of a penis. There is an opening in lower member 7 into which clamping ring 10 has been fitted and which is held in place by close tolerance and annular flange 1.1. The clamping ring 10 contains a beveled recess 12, which has an opening 19, and is adapted to receive bell-shaped member 9, such that rod 2 can move in the opening 19, and raise and lower the bell-shaped member 9 which is located below the clamping ring10. The opening 19 in the clamping ringl0 and the bell-shaped member 9 are selected so as to act cooperatively, thatis, the frusto-conical section 16 of the bell-shaped member 9 is of such a size that it will not pass through opening 19 but will make a tight contact with the annular rim 17 of the clamping ring 10.

Now that the invention has been described, relative to the drawing, an example of the operation of the invention in regard to the drawing will be set out. In the preparative steps the nut 3 is run up on threads 1 and upper member 5 is pulled back along guide 8 until it is at a desired position out of way. The rod 2 can then drop through opening 19 to allow the operator to place the glands of the penis in recess 15 and to pull the foreskin over the outer surface of bell-shaped member 9. The bell-shaped member 9 containing the penis is then inserted a short distance into the opening 19. It may be necessary for the operator to reach through opening 19 from above with butterfly hemostats to prevent the foreskin from being pushed off the bell-shaped member 9 by incidental contact with annular rim 17. The upper member 5 is now slid back into the position shown in FIG. 1 and the nut 3 turned to raise the rod 2 and bellshaped member 9 to bring frusto-conical section 16 into tight contact with annular rim 17 so that the foreskin is crushed and numbed, thereby constricting the blood vessels and creating hemostasis. The upper member comes to rest against wall 20, thereby positioning slot 8 in operable alinement with rod 2. After a few minutes in this position the foreskin is cut away using a sharp knife without danger to the penis and essentially without bleeding. The bell-shaped member 9 has a small aperture (not shown) which prevents the formation of a vacuum therein.

Although only one method of accuating the rod 2, i.e., nut 3 and threads 1 is shown other methods can be used, for example the bifurcated cam shown in my copending application Ser. No. 179,292, previously noted. It should also be noted in regard to the actuating means that a preferred configuration is shown for slot 18 and that portion of rod 2 which is in movable cooperation with slot 18. By having two substantially parallel sides the rod 2 can not rotate about the longitudinal axis when it is manipulated, thus achieving true rectilinear movement of the rod 2 and bell-shaped member 9.

The circumcision clamp of this invention is of such simple design that it can be readily fabricated out of a wide variety of materials, by such various methods as extrusion molding from reinforced or unreinforced polymers, such as nylon, nylon 66, high density polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, hydrocarbonaldehyde resins, polyesters, polyamines, polyamides and the like. The circumcision clamp can also be made from materials such as stainless steel, by forging, casting or stamping.

The invention claimed is:

l. A circumcision clamp comprising:

a lower member having a flattened elongated configuration, an opening forming a seat located adjacent one end of the lower member, an elongated guide projecting upwardly from the top surface of said lower member and extending toward the opposite end of the lower member, and a positioning wall extending upwardly from said top surface, said wall being located between said opening and said guide,

an upper member having a slot at one end thereof and an arcuate shape, said upper member being seated against said positioning wall and freely slidably engaged with said lower member by a groove in said upper member in cooperative engagement with said guide for sliding said upper member back along said lower member in use in circumcision to allow greater space in the area of the opening in the lower member, said lower member being substantially parallel to the end of said upper member having the slot therein,

clamping ring removably and frictionally engaged in said opening, said clamping ring having an opening and recess therein, the slot in said upper member being in substantial alinement with said opening in the clamping ring,

rod movably positioned through said slot and said opening in the clamping ring,

bell-shaped member on said rod, said bell-shaped member having a recess therein adapted to receive the glans of a penis and an outer surface adapted to receive the prepuce of a penis thereover, a portion of said outer surface having a diameter greater than the diameter of the opening in said clamping ring, said bell-shaped member being movable toward and from said recess and opening in the clamping ring and cooperationg with said clamping ring, and

means for actuating said rod.

2. The circumcision clamp according to claim 1 wherein said rod and said slot in the upper member are of such cooperating configuration as not to allow said rod to rotate about its longitudinal axis.

3. The circumcision clamps according to claim 2 wherein the configuration of said cooperating slot and rod has at least one flat surface.

4. The circumcision clamp according to claim 3 wherein the configuration of said cooperating slot and rod has two substantially parallel surfaces.

5. The circumcision clamp according to claim 1 wherein said lower member comprises a handle-like rearward projection.

6. The circumcision clamp according to claim 1 wherein the means to actuate the rod comprises having threads on the portion of the rod passing through the slot in said upper member and a nut member on said threads. 

1. A circumcision clamp comprising: a lower member having a flattened elongated configuration, an opening forming a seat located adjacent one end of the lower member, an elongated guide projecting upwardly from the top surface of said lower member and extending toward the opposite end of the lower member, and a positioning wall extending upwardly from said top surface, said wall being located between said opening and said guide, an upper member having a slot at one end thereof and an arcuate shape, said upper member being seated against said positioning wall and freely slidably engaged with said lower member by a groove in said upper member in cooperative engagement with said guide for sliding said upper member back along said lower member in use in circumcision to allow greater space in the area of the opening in the lower member, said lower member being substantially parallel to the end of said upper member having the slot therein, a clamping ring removably and frictionally engaged in said opening, said clamping ring having an opening and recess therein, the slot in said upper member being in substantial alinement with said opening in the clamping ring, a rod movably positioned through said slot and said opening in the clamping ring, a bell-shaped member on said rod, said bell-shaped member having a recess therein adapted to receive the glans of a penis and an outer surface adapted to receive the prepuce of a penis thereover, a portion of said outer surface having a diameter greater than the diameter of the opening in said clamping ring, said bell-shaped member being movable toward and from said recess and opening in the clamping ring and cooperationg with said clamping ring, and means for actuating said rod.
 2. The circumcision clamp according to claim 1 wherein said rod and said slot in the upper member are of such cooperating configuration as not to allow said rod to rotate about its longitudinal axis.
 3. The circumcision clamps according to claim 2 wherein the configuration of said cooperating slot and rod has at least one flat surface.
 4. The circumcision clamp according to claim 3 wherein the configuration of said cooperating slot and rod has two substantially parallel surfaces.
 5. The circumcision clamp according to claim 1 wherein said lower member comprises a handle-like rearward projection.
 6. The circumcision clamp according to claim 1 wherein the means to actuate the rod comprises having threads on the portion of the rod passing through the slot in said upper member and a nut member on said threads. 